The geaydon



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shet 1.

J. W. GRAYDON- SHELL.

No. 382,226. 7 Patented May 1. 1888.

m0 Model) 2 Sheets-Sheen J. W. GRAYDON.

SHELL.

8 No. 382,226. Patented May 1, 1888.

' MW Vim/Q! JAMESW. enaynon, or wheel-heron, DISTRICT OF conniunrafnssenon,

BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, To. THE GRAYDON DYn'AMITE i nioanorite, CARTRIDGEAND HIGH EXPL'OSIVE COMPANY, OF SAi lnBL- I .3.

SHELL.

srecrr-rca'riorr ormin part of Letters Patent No. 382,226, flat ed MayApplication filed May 7, 1887. Renewed February 15, 1888. Serial No.264,l42i.

To all whom it rim/y concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES W. GRAYDON, of

NVashington city, in the District of Columbia,

haveinvented certain, new and useful I mp'rove- 5 .mentsin Shells; and Ido hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,in which- Figure 1 shows a central longitudinal sec 1 10 tion of myshell; Fig. 2, a transverse section of the same on line mm of Fig. 1;Fig. 3,2. front end view of the shell; Fig. 4, a detail view showing ashell in the gun with asbestus wads between it and the propellingcharge, and Fig.

r 5 5 an enlarged detail view of one of the pellets with" which theshell is shown as loaded in.

Fig. 1. I

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts-in each of thefigures.

The object of myinvention is to provide improizernents in explosiveshells; and to this end my invention consists in the shell and in theconstruction, arrangement, and combination of the parts thereof, "ashereinafter specified.

In the drawings, A designates the shell-casing, which, as usual, ispreferably made of metal. The metal which I prefer is steel, as withthat material a goodpenetrating-point can be formed on theshell. Ontheexterior b of the casing are two rings, 13 and B, of brass 'or othersoft. metal, set or .let into annular grooves, as indicated in Fig. l inthe drawings. Of these ringsthercarone, B, is thicker than the other, soas to-take the rifiing of the 5 gun strongly. The front ring, especiallywhere the projectile used is a long one, is of less diameterthan theother ring, so that it does not project so far beyond the casing A, andonly takes the rifling slightly.

In order to increase'the interior capacity of the shell for thereception of the explosive, I desire that the shell should be as long aspossible, and intend, where the shells are specially manufactured, tomake them longer than they 5 have usually heretofore been made. i

Ihave only shown two of thesoft-metal rings; but a greater number ofthem can of course be used if desired.

For facility in loading the shell, I prefer to go masses rear end of theshell removable, as

shown in full lines in Fig. .zSucln-rearend there shownconsists,ofctheahaearytand strong piece or block 0, having; the threadedforweirdly-projecting portion !O:-screwed,intothe rear end of casingA.a,IllStQEld.,-Qf-;th;l8=G021- 5 struction, I can, as indicated indotted lines 1 at the rear end. of the,shellinsaidfigure,have

a smaller opening inthecasing end, withia mere plug screwed intothesame:The rear end of the casing must:thenwheiparticulaply 6o 1 strong toprevent the plug {being blowni'nto the shell by the explosionof --th,e.propelling charge in the gun. The plug-eani havea flange or head adaptedto engage the end of the (13S:

ing, or an annular shoulder; thereon around the plug-hole. I alsocontenrplatcgif desired, having the loading-opening at, the forward partof the casing, as indicated o dettedor broken lines,-instead of at there ,j-as;al'ready described. In such case L do not,"- as hash'ere- 7otofore been done, makefthe openingesztending from the extreme point ofthesheil rearward into the shell-casing interior as such acon struetioninterferes with and spoilsthc sharp penetrating-point whiclritisdesirable. to have.

Thewhole front end of tlieiqshellawith its I thick solid portion andpenetratingpoint,,.i-s screwed or otherwisev fastenedlto, the frontp033; tion of the cylindrical or.main port-io gof the shell. lVhen thisfront endofthe shell is un s screwed or removechit leavesthechamber endopen, to be freely and easily loaded.-.

I have shown the chargecontainin'gchainber made not cylindrical, butenlarged from each end toward th'e-centralpoint-so as to, increase itscarrying capacity; but I do, notlimit myself to such construction t""-n-jy particular shape. A'great cause of danger ii hen ,o hells, andespecially those containing high explo' 9o sives-as gun cotton,dynamite; chc ehas been .th'etransrnission or passage. of :he2 i;t-.:from th,e

shell consists of one of the high explosives. To guard against thisgreat source of danger of premature explosion of the shell and consequent bursting of the gun, I line the interior of the shell-chamber Dwith a lining ofsome material which is a non conductor of heat that is,I inte'rpose between the charge E, within the shell and the inner wallsof'the casing, a layer or layers of material which will effectuallyprevent the heat from the outside of theshcll reaching the charge.

The material which I prefer for lining the shell-chamber is asbestusfelting, paper, or cloth; but I do not limit myself to any particularmaterial therefor. Mineral wool or any of the well-known non conductorsof heat can be used. Whatever the material is it should of course be initself not capable of being burned or destroyed by the heat reachin it.

I is dynamite and other high explosives are fired by 360 of heat, itwill be readily seen that without some non condncting materialinterposed between the shell-charge and the walls of the shell thecharge is liable, in fact very certain,to be fired by heat coming fromthe intense flame of the propelling-charge in the gun.

In practice, before placing the exploding charge within theshell-chamber I put the asbestus or other lining in place,then fill inthe explosive, and lap the ends of the lining over the charge, as shownFig. 1. The end or plug'to close the open end of the chamber is thenscrewed in place.

To make most sure that the charge shall not come in contact with thewalls of the shell where the lining is lapped over, I sometimes fill ina space between the charge and the end of the chamber with scraps orpieces of the asbestus or other non conducting material used. VVhcredesired, asbest'us or other wads, F F,of material which is anon-conductor of heat can be placed between the rear end of theprojectile and the propelling-charge G in the gun, as shown in Fig. 4.

tion of the actively explosive portion of the material by the shock ofthe propulsion of the projectile in the gun. Dynamite, which is one ofthe most convenient of the high explosives to make and handle, consists,as is well known, essentially, of nitro-glycerine and absorbent materialused to take up and absorb the nitro-glycerine.

-far more sensitive than when is absorbed and held by the absorbentmaterial in dyna or time fuse.

mite, is concentrated out of the dynamite by the shock. The charge inthe shell is thus put in a too highly sensitive and very dangerouscondition, and is quite certain to be fired by any shock by friction,orby 860 of heat reaching any portion of the nitro-glycerine before theprojectile has time tov leave the gun. To prevent this concentration anddangerous change in the nature of the explosive charge, I separate thecharge into anumber, of small portions, each wrapped in an envelope, soas to make a number of balls or pellets, ff, of any desired shape.

In practice I have put up the high explosive, preferably dynamite, inpackages of thin strong paper, and then have dipped the packages inparaffine to hermetically scal them and render the paper non-absorbent.The size that I have found best for dynamite packages is a halfinchtube. The shape is, as indicated above, immaterial. Where each pack ageis made up into a ball, f, as shown in Fig. 5, the open end of thepaperpackage is tied up with a thread or string,f, and the ball is thendipped in paraffine. Other material besides pa per can obviouslybe used,such as cloth made non-absorbent and impervious by means ofparaifine orother substance; or the explosive, being gathered or made into pelletsor balls, can be dipped in or coated with some substance adapted to forma thin, tough, non-absorbent and impervious film to inclose and hold theshock as the charge would get if in a projectile thrown t'rorna gun byordinary black powder. The charge is not then put in a highly sensitivecondition while in the gun.

'With the wrapping material of the packages or pellets made of asubstance non-conductrve ot'hat, the non-conducting lining of the shellor wrapping of the whole charge could be dispensed with; but Iprefer tomake assurance doubly sure by using such lining or charge-wrapper.

The shells loaded as described will explode upon striking an object, asis desirable; but I prefer to use with them either a contact Any of theordinary time or contact fuses can be used instead of the spe* cial formthat I show at H in Fig. lot the drawings. Such special form ofcontact-fuse I do not intend to coverby claims inthe presentapplication, as it is more fully shown and described, and is covered byclaims in another application for patent executed on even date with thiscase.

hatever kind or construction of fuse is used, it should have connectedwith it, so as to be tired therefrom, a charge, h, of powder sufficientto shatter the envelopes or wrappings of the pelietsff, forming theburstingcharge. This insures the sudden explosion of the outside to theinside of the shell is used to protect the explosive charge fromtransmission of heat along the fuse-plug from the propelling-charge toput some of the asbestos or other nonconducting material used betweenthe charge in the shell and the sides of such ping.

The point of the shell can be either the ordinary plain conical one, or,as I prefer, it can be formed like the end of a bit or drill, as shownin Fig. 3, so as to out its way into iron or stell armor as the shellrotates. With this purpose in view, the point of the shell is providedwith the series of spirally and rearwardly extending grooves a a,starting from the extreme forward and central. part of the shell-point.Each groove is, as'shown, ratchet-shaped in cross-section, so as tofern: e series of sharp spiral cutting-shoulders to bite and out intothe object struck.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1 1. In an explosiveshell, in combination with the shell-casing and the charge of explosive,one or more layers of material non-con dnctive of heatentirely-inclosing the charge, substantially as and for the purposeshown.

2. In an explosive shell, in combination with the charge of explosive,a, wrapping made of asbestos around the charge and entirely inolosingthe some, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In combination with the casing of an explosive shell, a chargeconsisting of a number of pellets or packages made of small portions ofhigh explosive, each portion inolosed by it flexible envelope andseparated from the other portions only by a flexible medium,substantially as and for the purpose shown.

4. A shell loaded with a mass of rounded l 5 pellets, each pelletconsisting of a portion of high explosive inelosed in e flexiblewrapping or envelope, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. In combination with esniteble casing, an explosive charge for shellsand the like, consisting oi portions of high explosive wrapped in.parsffinetreated pspensubstentielly as and for the purpose specified.

6. In an explosive shell, in combination with the charge made up ofportions of high explosive inclosed in'envelopes or lwrappings, a, fusefor firing the charge, provided with a quantity of explosive to shatterthe envelopes of the separate portions of the shell-charge,substantially as and for the purpose set forth. '2. In an explosiveshell, in combination with the shell-casing having the charge-chember,thelining of material nonconductive of heat, and the pellets packages ofexplosive inolosed in envelopes,substantially as and for the purposeshown and described.

8. In an explosive shell, in combination with the shell-casing havingthe charge-eontaining chamber, the lining nonconductive of, heat and thebursting-charge made up ofseparete small portions of dynamite inclo'sedin wrappings or envelopes, substantially as and forthe purpose specific9. In an explosive-shell, in combinatio I with the shell-casing havingthe charge-receivin chamber, the lining of asbestos within the some, thehl'lrsting-cherge of dynamite sepsrated into smell portions, with eachportion separately inclosed in an envelope, and ofnse provided withcharge of explosive to ter the envelopes inclosing; the portions of(lynamite and fire the whole chzlrge, sohstan tielly as and for thepurpose shown.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing l. have hereunto set my handthis 3d of May, 1887. v JAMES W. GBAYDON, Witnesses:

Geo. E5. PRINDLE, PHILIP G. ltUssELL.

